Bahahaha this isn't supposed to be anything grand or anything I was aiming for something you'd see on Tumblr or Instagram or something LOL that's probably why there's no background But as my first mini comic there are still a bunch of things I can and will improve on so this is kind of a quick experiment lolololol what even is perspective xD

When it comes to comics, as opposed to single character or landscape pieces, analysis requires a different set of tools. Unlike the single point in time that still images capture, a comic covers a span of time, allowing it to tell a more complete story than one image can alone. And while each individual panel can be critiqued as its own image, once you combine them into a comic, the relationship between the panels becomes a work of art in itself.

Much like a strong line of action makes for a clearer pose, a strong relationship between panels makes for a clearer comic. With this comic, the first panel showcases a man playing a piano. The second and third panels relate to the piano, creating a link between these last two panels. However, aside from the white background, nothing else connects the first panel with the second two. The first panel could be taking place thousands of miles away as far as we the viewers know. By changing the framing such that the man appears in the second/third panel or such that the two men appear in the first panel (or even just one of the men), you create a visual link between all three panels. Not only does it establish how far apart they are spatially, but it also provides a better sense of the temporal distance. Because the first and second panels have no visual relation, there's no telling how many years it took for the man to ask the question after the other man started playing that piano. This ambiguity may seem minor and easily resolved if you look at the context of the comic, but it follows the same principle as silhouetting. A weaker silhouette can be parsed if you look at it for a bit, but it's the clearest and strongest silhouettes are the ones that make for the best character drawings.

An interesting thought experiment when looking at comics is to look at each of the panels and ask yourself which one you would remove while losing as little of the structural integrity of the comic as possible. If you keep going with this thought experiment, eventually you will reach a point where you have the minimum number of panels possible to create the comic while still capturing the original idea. This minimum number can be considered the ideal number of panels, as parsimony often goes hand in hand with elegance; although, one should never be afraid to go past the minimum if he believes the comic could use a little extra detail. In this comic, I believe the minimum number of panels is two, the last two to be specifically. One sets up the joke, and the second delivers the punch line. It's possible you could combine the joke and punch line into a single comic, but then you wouldn't be able to show the change in character expression, so I believe something would be lost. The first panel presents the piano and establishes the context for the joke, but that panel could easily be replaced by including the piano in the panel that asks the joke.

I've heard it said that simple done well is complexity refined and that when something is simple from the start, it's apparent in the final product. That is to say, there's 'good' simple and then there's 'bad' simple. One thing I can respect about this comic is the fact that all of it is hand-drawn, including the text. It gives the piece a a simplistic feel in a good way that does indeed capture that Tumblr/Instagram look you were going for. I can also give you plenty of credit for drawing out all the lines of the piano by hand. Unfortunately, the perfectly straight lines of the table and the edge between the wall and the floor clash with this hand-drawn feel and come across as mechanical. When it comes to adopting a style, consistency is important here as well. One area of the 'bad' kind of simplicity you could look to avoid in the future is the reuse of framing. The second and third panel feature the same 'shot' with the characters slightly shifted. The framing of a shot says a lot about what is happening, and there are an infinite number of things you can tell your viewer just through the frame of the shot alone. However, using the same one multiple times is comparable to drawing a perfectly straight line of action. It's not necessarily "wrong", as such a thing is blasphemous to say in the infinite nebula that is the artistic medium, but it does make for a less dynamic picture. I could imagine an alternate version of this comic where the second panel was first; the third panel was second, only zoomed in on Lou; and then the third panel was a zoom-in on Lou's friend to get his expression. Even without changing the camera angle, we give each panel is own 'identity' and vary up the visuals for the viewer while conveying everything we wanted to say.

This comic is a simple set-up-then-punchline style of comic, meaning there's a lot less to analyze in comparison to a more complicated or longer comic. Even so, as you can see, there's much that can be learned from the simplest stories. What is left out and what can be added are both very important to consider, and knowing the building blocks of doing a simple experiment comic like this will give you a map of what to do when your comics get more complicated. I will say that I think you did an fine job with your coloring. Perhaps there could be a bit more contrast in Lou's friend, but mostly the colors chosen work well. You also look to be fairly confident in your linework, which I can fully commend you for. Digital art can be quite the monster to tame. I can see you becoming a wonderful comic artist as you improve your style and abilities. Keep on going and make the most!

Hello there! Wow, this is certainly a mouthful! First of all, I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to analyze my comic and really sink in all the detail and strategies that I used. Second, thanks so much for taking the time to write this all out!! I honestly am so glad that you commented and gave me pointers that hit almost all the art aspects (coloring, line art, perspective, composition, dialogue, impact etc). I’m glad you gave me these tips but also told me some things I’ve done right- therefore this is probably the best constructive comment I have received!! This was exactly what I was looking for and you went above and beyond. I hope you enjoyed this comic, and thank you so much for the help!!

Oh, and I do have a question: The other guy's name is Jim (I probably should have explained that earlier- I do appreciate the fact that you read the description well, by the way!) and here's what I have for his color palette so far:

I was wondering, what can I do to improve his design? I think you mentioned that most of his color scheme is fine but it could use some contrast, so what can I change? (I haven't released these references yet, so nothing is 100% set in stone.)

Excellent question. Looking at your character's color palette, I count 11 different color values used to render the character. One thing you can do is reduce this number to be as few as possible. Reusing colors makes for a simpler design, and it not only makes it easier to draw the character multiple times over, but it also focuses the color palette and reduces noise.

As for the contrast, a good test to see how much contrast is in your character's design is the grayscale test. It's a very simple test. All you need to do is apply a grayscale color filter to your picture and examine the resulting color values. Fortunately, your color scheme lends itself well to the grayscale test, as most of the values are gray already. The test becomes much more useful once you start combining several different hues.

Look at the following picture in this zoomed-out view. Pay close attention to which colors are highly visible and which are a little tricky to see. I find that the tie and the band around the hat are the weakest in terms of contrast, while everything else stands out fairly well. You can see how the collar stands out against the jacket by comparison.

You can try out different color values to see what you find works the best to pass the grayscale test. I personally found that raising the color values of the tie and band to the same degree did well to increase visibility. Based on the mostly-grey color scheme, I imagine this sort of character is meant to be more of the straight man, so I figured he wouldn't walk around in bright colors.

See what you can do to adopt a minimal color palette and increase your contrast. Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

Is there anything I can improve concerning color/design for these guys? I’m aware that I’m new at drawing humans so there’s also a lot I need to learn considering anatomy and such as well. I can't express how much I appreciate your help.

I believe you got the right contrast for these three characters, though you may want to consider doing a little more to distinguish the shirt pocket, tie, and hat brim for Perkins. The colors cut a little close for him. I like how you made these reference sheets, with multiple angles and guidelines. Plus you were able to invoke a little of their personality into some of the side sketches. When it comes to drawing characters, one common mistake that strikes many artists is the dreaded "same face" virus, where all characters have the same style of eye, nose, head shape, lips, hairstyle, body size, etc. It looks like you have some good variation when it comes to those elements, so I don't think you'll need to work on that.

One thing I can recommend for any future character references you plan on making is working on your poses. When it comes to character references like these that are meant to showcase the character, it's usually the main picture that captures the character's essence the strongest and draws the eye most of all. Here's a character reference sheet from the artist that demonstrates what I mean.

Poses are works of art unto themselves. You can find entire pieces of simply faceless bodies striking poses that people use to make their own pieces. Though you can have many poses that look very similar, there are so many variables that can go into a pose that you can almost consider it an art piece's fingerprint. It's very easy to tell if a piece was appropriated from another by examining the poses of the two.

If you remove the shading and the detail between the above reference sheet and yours, you may notice a few subtle differences that gives the above piece added character appeal. One is the lack of straight lines. When it comes to drawing characters, perfectly straight lines are your enemy. It's because straight lines don't appear in nature. If you examine your body from top to bottom, you will not find one straight line anywhere on you. But you may find a few on the edges of your desk, your computer, or your phone. Straight lines create a feeling of stiffness in a character that lowers the realism. We see those straight lines and our brain immediately makes the connection. Straight line = not living. Even if it's just by a few degrees, try to avoid making any of your lines perfectly straight.

There's one more element that's contributing to this 'stiffness', and it's actually another straight line. Though this one isn't one you've explicitly drawn. When you start delving into the world of poses, you'll become wholly familiar with the term 'line of action', and there are many guides you can find online that refer to it. The line of action can be considered the "flow" of the character, the way their body is drawn from one end to the other. Since your character is standing straight, there's a strong inclination for artists to draw a straight line of action.

Here I've drawn the line of action for your Luigi reference and placed the line to the left as well to make it more visible. As you can see, the line is not perfectly straight, but it's very close to being so. You can see how his arms mostly go straight down, his legs go straight down, there's no real tilt to his head. It's a rather static image without much character behind it. A stronger line of action creates a stronger pose, which allows the character to express itself more. Now compare to these poses by

You can see the arms and legs take a more active role and vary the direction that the body moves. If you drew a line from the head to the feet, following the flow of the body, you would miss a few details if you drew a straight line. Pushing the line of action can be difficult, as doing it incorrectly can result in anatomy or proportions being out of whack, but it's the definite secret to making for a stronger display of your character, and I'd highly recommend it. One good exercise is to draw several different curvy lines and use it as a line of action to draw several different poses. Don't worry about providing any details or making it a specific character. Focus on making an interesting pose.

Thanks so much for the advice! I'll certainly take that into consideration when creating references for my other characters.

I was also wondering, how else can I improve my art in general? I'm kind of new here because I moved accounts so I don't have too much in my gallery at the moment, but I do have some newer pieces that I'm proud of. I'm aware that a good portion of them are commissions and art trades, but it's alright to critique them since the clients seem to be satisfied with my work. However, I'm aware that there is still a lot for me to learn. Would it be alright if you'd do a quick skim through my gallery and give me some pointers? So far, I find your advice really helpful and you're very well-mannered in your comments.

been playing the keyboard for 10 years (no joke, 10 years), i can confirm that many people do indeed play the keyboard with their fingers, but the professional way to play is by smacking your face off the keys

a lot of people will complain when you do this, that your playing is "off key", this is actually not true - your face is very clearly on the keys